Excellence University Journal

The Five Keys to Building a Successful Company

by John Spence

(The following is from a five-part series of short articles that John wrote for Gainesville Today Magazine on what it takes to build a successful organization)

During the course of the past five years I have had the opportunity to serve as a management consultant and corporate trainer to more than 300 companies worldwide. Working with these organizations in the areas of strategic planning, marketing, sales and leadership development I have been afforded a unique perspective of how companies in thirty different industries operate. What I have found is that regardless of the size of the organization, from small 2-3 person entrepreneurial enterprises, to 100,000 employee multi-national corporations, there are specific characteristics that clearly differentiate “Great” companies.

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Why Business Planning Is So Important

by John Spence

Frankly it scares me. In working with literally hundreds of small to medium-sized business over the past decade I have been terrified at how few of them take their business planning seriously. Even more horrifying is that a fair number of them did not even have a business plan at all! Let me make this clear: sustained business success does not come from chance, fate or good luck. To run a successful and profitable company it is critical that you understand, implement and value the process of effective business planning. But rather than just jump up and down on my soap box, let me try to lay out for you a reasoned and well thought out case for why you should invest your time and energy in creating and maintaining a solid business plan.

Following are my “Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Have a Business Plan.”

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How to Build a Strong Consulting / Speaking / Seminar Business

by John Spence

1. First you will need to get a VERY clear idea of exactly what you are trying to achieve. What, specifically do you want to do with your speaking / training business? What will you offer; keynotes, workshops, one-day seminars, multi-day seminars? Do you want to talk only to CEOs – or are you trying to get to the level of speaking to crowds as large as 5,000 or more? How many clients do you want, what sort of clients, how much travel are you willing to do, to where, how much revenue do you honestly want to generate, how much time do you want to work each week, what price are you willing to pay to succeed? You cannot be all things to all people; you need a laser-like focus on where you know you can hit home runs. You also have to decide what you really want, so you know what to say “No” to. You can get a lot of input about these questions from key folks around you that you respect and trust, but at some point you MUST put a stake in the ground and fully commit to a focused course of action. I would also add that the only way you will ever be truly successful is if you LOVE what you do. So it is a combination of picking something you really love and is fun for you, that you can do very well, that is also a topic that is highly valued in the market place. If you do not have ALL three of those, you will not be able to build a strong business.

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A Real Letter About Poor Customer Service

by John Spence

This is a real letter I recently sent to a place that just did not understand the “value” of delivering great customer service. Once you do the math, it gets very interesting…

Debbie Beaulieu
The Bakery Mill & Deli
1143 NW 76^th Blvd.
Gainesville, FL 32606

Although it seems that you do not really care, I wanted to send you a brief note to let you know that you lost some customers this morning.

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The Secret to Business Success

by John Spence

I am going to tell you how to differentiate your business so distinctly that you will dominate your marketplace and keep a steady stream of customers coming to your door. The secret is obvious, but like water to a fish, it seems that the vast majority of business owners have no idea at all about it. It does take a little more money, time and discipline, but the rewards of implementing this secret are overwhelming. I am also convinced that if properly implemented, even direct competitors are highly unlikely to successfully copy you.

What is this incredibly powerful business secret? It is called delivering: Consistently Superior Customer Service. That’s it? All the work-up just to tell me to give good customer service? Yes, absolutely. Because in today’s business world getting even mediocre service is a joy, getting Consistently Superior Customer Service is almost unheard of, and valued as a rare and precious thing by most customers. Before you feel like I tricked you, let me explain.

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